There is actually a pretty good book on the subject. I have a few local Wiccan friends. I expressed curiosity about their beliefs, and one of them loaned me this book. I only got through the first few chapters (they have the history and meditative techniques...the rest is a bit too bunky for my taste). They outright acknowledge the origin of their practice. Interestingly, not everyone who is Wiccan thinks of it as a religion. However, if you are interested in learning about what it is, you should check it out. (Literally, check it out. Try to find it at a library or something, because after the philosophy bit it gets into the practice, and you probably won't want to read that part.)
One of the points she makes in the book is that Wicca is very pick-and-choose. Not everyone believes the same thing or uses the same practices. Not all of them practice magic. Etc etc etc. But for historical purposes, this book covers the development of several of the lines of thinking. (Yes, there are multiple schools of thought, just like Christianity!)
Now, the larger point beyond that iswhyshe believes. If she has a rational basis for belief - "It makes me feel good to believe that magic exists" - that's something of a different story. It's all in assessing the extent, and whether or not it has a serious detrimental effect in her life. Personally, I'm willing to live with a certain level of illogical belief, as long as there's some sort of rational basis for said illogical belief. If you want to believe in fairies because the thought brings a spot of joy to your otherwise dreary life, I personally wouldn't really argue with that. If you forsake medical treatment because you think the fairies will cure you, that's a different story.
Pete basically summed up my policy. That's basically what I say too. To each his own...to a point.
There's believing in magic and then there's "believing" in magic.
Let me tell a story about myself first.
I know how my muscles work. There are fibers in them (of several varieties, but all the same for the purposes of this discussion) that contract when acetylcholine is released due to a nearby neuron action potential. These action potentials all last pretty much the same length but can come at varying frequencies, determining the portion of the time that the muscle is contracting. So its a pretty typical pulse frequency modulation system. There are two negative feedback loops helping to make muscle control finer and prevent over-exertion, one being local and one being routed through the brain. Under normal circumstances a person will never be able to get more than a 1/3 duty cycle out of their muscles.
Circumstances can be abnormal in quite a variety of ways, and one of the easiest parts of the equation to mess with is the feedback loop that runs through the brain. Yelling or grunting while preforming a bench press will typically increase the force your biceps are exerting by around 10%. There are all kinds of ways that people have found to mess with that feedback loop, though. When I was studying martial arts I was taught about "ki," this mystical force that was flowing through my body and how to control it.
This was, unquestionably, bullshit as far as accurate representation of reality was concerned. However, by systematically deluding myself about this I was able to produce more forceful blows than I would be able to otherwise. The question of whether it can be rational to delude one's self in order to further one's goals is a pretty interesting one and not one anyone should be coming to quick and easy conclusions on. Without trying to answer that here (I really think it deserves its own thread if anyone really wants to discuss it) all I'll say is that I do continue to delude myself in this way when necessary, and that I feel that this leaves me in a bad position to criticize other people who do the same thing.
I know a fair number of Wiccans and other pagans here around MIT. Most of them would be perfectly happy to admit where their religion comes from, but they continue to follow it anyways because they think that they gain some benefit from believing in it. Many of them were perfectly happy to talk about magical rituals as a means of futzing with their subconciousess the same way I use "ki flows" to futz with my own physiology. I do know that there are plenty of "rainbows and unicorns" Wiccans out there too, but Wiccanism isn't really any more a sign of stupidity than Christianity is.
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Wicca for Beginners
One of the points she makes in the book is that Wicca is very pick-and-choose. Not everyone believes the same thing or uses the same practices. Not all of them practice magic. Etc etc etc. But for historical purposes, this book covers the development of several of the lines of thinking. (Yes, there are multiple schools of thought, just like Christianity!)
Indignant.
(If your latest post was you renouncing your previous indignation I'm sorry for posting this.)
EDIT: By the way, it's Lord YUPA! Not Lord Yuma!!! God, didn't you see Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind at all?!
Let me tell a story about myself first.
I know how my muscles work. There are fibers in them (of several varieties, but all the same for the purposes of this discussion) that contract when acetylcholine is released due to a nearby neuron action potential. These action potentials all last pretty much the same length but can come at varying frequencies, determining the portion of the time that the muscle is contracting. So its a pretty typical pulse frequency modulation system. There are two negative feedback loops helping to make muscle control finer and prevent over-exertion, one being local and one being routed through the brain. Under normal circumstances a person will never be able to get more than a 1/3 duty cycle out of their muscles.
Circumstances can be abnormal in quite a variety of ways, and one of the easiest parts of the equation to mess with is the feedback loop that runs through the brain. Yelling or grunting while preforming a bench press will typically increase the force your biceps are exerting by around 10%. There are all kinds of ways that people have found to mess with that feedback loop, though. When I was studying martial arts I was taught about "ki," this mystical force that was flowing through my body and how to control it.
This was, unquestionably, bullshit as far as accurate representation of reality was concerned. However, by systematically deluding myself about this I was able to produce more forceful blows than I would be able to otherwise. The question of whether it can be rational to delude one's self in order to further one's goals is a pretty interesting one and not one anyone should be coming to quick and easy conclusions on. Without trying to answer that here (I really think it deserves its own thread if anyone really wants to discuss it) all I'll say is that I do continue to delude myself in this way when necessary, and that I feel that this leaves me in a bad position to criticize other people who do the same thing.
I know a fair number of Wiccans and other pagans here around MIT. Most of them would be perfectly happy to admit where their religion comes from, but they continue to follow it anyways because they think that they gain some benefit from believing in it. Many of them were perfectly happy to talk about magical rituals as a means of futzing with their subconciousess the same way I use "ki flows" to futz with my own physiology. I do know that there are plenty of "rainbows and unicorns" Wiccans out there too, but Wiccanism isn't really any more a sign of stupidity than Christianity is.